


at childhood’s end

by missdulcerosea



Series: madokami pays a visit [2]
Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:54:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23997871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missdulcerosea/pseuds/missdulcerosea
Summary: As the Last Battle grows closer, a kindly goddess from worlds away decides to give our beloved Dragon some solace.
Series: madokami pays a visit [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730584
Kudos: 7





	at childhood’s end

There’s a girl on a creaky wooden swing. It’s tied to a tree with rope in the meadow’s clearing, and she swings up towards the spotless bright blue of the sky and back down to the flower-scattered ground again. SHe looks very young, Rand thinks, maybe a little older than Olver. Her hair is peculiar: A shade of soft pink, done in high pigtails and rippling in the lilac scented breeze. And it is because of the flawless appearance of this spring day that Rand al’Thor knows that this is a dream.

The swinging slows down and gradually the girl stops. She looks at Rand with rosy-pink eyes and smiles.

“It’s very pretty out today,” is all she says.

_I don’t think this is Tel’Aran’Rhiod. I feel like it’s something else. I don’t know where,_ Rand thinks, _But at least it’s peaceful out here._

The words that come out are different. “Yes. It’s lovely.”

“Spring’s always been my favorite season. Everything’s so new and growing and pretty.” The girl hops off the swing, and though the honeyed breeze and high green hills of this dreamscape are a new and welcome sight to Rand’s eyes a lump forms in his throat. It reminds him of the springtimes in Emond’s Field that he woke up to and thought he would wake up to for years more. He also gets the feeling that there is something else about this girl, too: That something not sinister but more… worldly is hidden beneath the layer of innocence.

Her face softens and she runs across the field to meet Rand. “Oh? Does this place bring up bad memories?”

He shakes his head. “No, it’s alright.”

“There’s something wrong. I made this place because I thought it would be peaceful, but I didn’t mean to upset you by accident. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, though. I’m truly very sorry.”

(You don’t have to steel yourself, something says inside of him, not in a place like this. Not when this girl may not even be real.)

“It reminds me of better times, actually. Just of places I can never go back to.”

“Oh. I know what you man by that. I guess. I can’t go home, either. Even though I’m around everyone at all times, I can’t really _talk_ to them beyond this.”

For him it is a bit different: He can talk, but with old friends like Mat it is as though they speak to a ghost. The Rand al’Thor they see is a different one than the one that exists now. But he wonders what kind of ghost this girl might be.

“What do you mean?”

“It was because of my wish. I made a wish so that the magical girls of the world I’m from—”

“You have Aes Sedai?” Rand blurts out.

“…A little different from… I don’t know how to pronounce what you just said, but yes. I think they’re a bit more like the people who use magic like you.”

He can feel the grass rustling at his ankles and wonders how this can’t be real. “Could you tell me?”

So she does. She tells him of a world where young girls exchange wishes for their souls without knowing, destined to die in battle or morph into the very monsters they fight. That is, until she made her wish: No more witches is what she asked for, none in the past, present, or future. And while the magical girls did not have their taint on them anymore, she’s just a concept now. Forgotten about by everyone, and unremembered by those she meets once she leaves.

“I won’t forget you,” Rand says. She reminds him a bit of a little sister he never had. But the girl shakes her head.

“I know you will,” she says softly. “But it doesn’t bother me. I’m used to it.”

He pulls her into a tight embrace and she accepts it, leaning up high up her tiptoes to circle her arms around his neck. For a moment it is comforting just to accept this girl like a sister to him, a friend. Then—

“Gosh, you’re so tall,” the girl says. She laughs a little.

They walk through the expanse of green and pastels, Rand’s eyes travelling over the flowers sprinkled in the grass. The trees and hills blend seamlessly into one another and though he knows that by now he is far away from the swing he’d seen earlier that when he wakes up he will find his way. He doesn’t need to stay on the path. And then at last the girl speaks once more.

“You know, you remind me of a girl I knew very well.”

“Oh?”

“She was around the same age as me. I think. She’d traveled in time so much that it’s still hard for me to tell. She told me a lot about how much she tried to fight fate just to save me. Because in the first timeline she met me in I died. She did so much just for one person—I think it’ll be a while before I meet her again. But even though everyone else forgot about me, she still remembers. And both of you changed because you had to. To protect the people you care about. Right? At least that’s what I think.”

Silence. Then at last Rand says:

“Yes. Is the girl alright now? You did say she was much younger than me. A child shouldn’t have to go through that.”

“She shouldn’t have had to go through that, you’re right. And even though I think it will take a very long time, I think she _will_ get better. It won’t be an easy path. But she won her fight after trying so many times, and I’m certain things will right themselves.”

“Can you tell if that will be the same for me? For everyone in my world? For the people I care about. My family, my friends.”  
The girl shakes her head. “I think it would be wrong to tell you. If it wasn’t what you wanted to hear, I don’t know what could happen. And if it was that would be an unfair advantage. But regardless, you’ve done so much. You’ve sacrificed so much. And it’s okay to open up to people. I wanted to remind you that you are not as alone as you think you are.”

She reaches up to embrace him again.

“I’ll have to go soon.”

“Wait—tell me your name before you go. I’m Rand al’Thor.”

“I’m Madoka Kaname.”

“That’s a nice name. I haven’t heard anything like it before. I hope that your journey is an easier one.”

“Thank you. And I’ll give you back that hope.”

The girl smiles and when she pulls away she changes. There is a strange glow about her, kindly eyes peering up at Rand like melted gold. Her dress glitters long and white beneath the brightness of the sun, hair longer. Rand blinks and swears he can see a pair of translucent wings shimmering against her back. She takes hold of his hand in her gloved one.

“Remember to talk if you need to, please?”

“I’ll try. I’m rather worried about forgetting you when I wake up, though.”

“I can’t stop you from feeling worried, and it’s fine to feel that way. And though I can’t tell you everything, I do at least want to let you know that if I found you once, I might be able to find and talk to you again.”

**Author's Note:**

> my need for rand to be happy is so great im having characters from other series talk to him
> 
> anyways please accept this even if it's longer than my last one.
> 
> thanks for reading! please take care <3


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